


Come Back to Me

by 88problems



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Clint Barton Feels, Clint whump, Fluff and Angst, Getting Together, Hurt Clint Barton, Idiots in Love, M/M, Memory Loss, Mutual Pining, Natasha Is a Good Bro, Prompt Fill, Shmoop, Tony Feels, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Whump, Tumblr Prompts, like where does it come from, way too much angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-02
Updated: 2017-04-02
Packaged: 2018-10-13 21:25:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10522176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/88problems/pseuds/88problems
Summary: Based off this wonderful Prompt: If you take requests then I wanted to ask if you could write a story where Clint and Tony are dating. Clint has to go to an mission but he loses his memories. He can't remember anything. The only thing he surely knows is that the snarky genius with the bubble butt is just his style. Clint flirts with him like no tomorrow, Tony enjoys Clint’s wooing attempts. The other Avengers enjoy the show.Tony waits for Clint to awaken in the small hospital room after a mission gone wrong."Of course this would happen now, Tony thinks miserably, of course the one time Tony fails to catch Clint the archer tumbles two stories and crashes into the ground. Of course this happens to them a week before their six month anniversary, not that Tony had been counting...of course not.It works for them initially, the snippy back and forth and light hearted flirtations they trade allow for a distance that both Avengers find comfortable, not exactly loving -not even close- but comfortable. Even in the middle of the night as they hold each other, Clint traces patterns into the skin on his back as Tony hums and sighs only to wake alone.It’s enough...definitely.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for the prompt!! I apologize for the wait, life kind of got in the way and it was difficult to come up with a way to approach this idea. I know this isn’t exactly what you wanted Anon, it turned out WAY more shmoopy and filled with Tony!Whump than I intended (I also just watched Atonement AND listened to it’s amazing soundtrack while writing this so that may have something to do with it), BUT I’m really hoping you like it anyway :)

Be sure to visit me on tumblr at [briefpaperexpert](https://briefpaperexpert.tumblr.com/) if you would like to submit a prompt or just drop by to chat!

 

* * *

 

 

_“I love you. I'll wait for you. Come back. Come back to me.”_

_-Atonement (2007)_

 

 

 

Of course this would happen now, Tony thinks miserably, of course the one time Tony fails to catch Clint the archer tumbles two stories and crashes into the ground. Of course this happens to them a week before their six month anniversary, not that Tony had been counting...of course not.

 

It works for them initially, the snippy back and forth and light hearted flirtations they trade allow for a distance that both Avengers find comfortable, not exactly loving -not even close- but comfortable. Even in the middle of the night as they hold each other, Clint traces patterns into the skin on his back as Tony hums and sighs only to wake alone.

 

It’s enough...definitely.

 

Definitely.

 

Tony presses his fingers gingerly into his closed eyes, he relishes the darkness and pressure, and breathes out. The steady beep of the heart rate monitor, a blessing and a curse, reminds him continuously of his blunder while providing reassurance that Clint's heart remains steady and strong. Steve left them an hour earlier to meet with Director Fury while Natasha remains to keep a silent watch. She yawns and rubs at the new bags beneath her eyes before stretching; the pops of stiff cartilage creak and echo throughout the small hospital room.

 

“I think I’m going to head back, I’m guessing you want to stay here?”

 

Tony looks up to see Natasha staring back at him, a pinched line between her eyebrows has appeared and deepens the longer he remains silent.

 

“Yeah, yeah I want to be here when he wakes up,” he murmurs and looks away, the silence of the room hangs heavy around his neck and threatens to press the words back down his throat. Natasha nods lightly but does not move from her position beside the bed.

 

"Clint would send you home in a heartbeat if it meant you slept even a little you know," she says quietly; her steadfast gaze remains on his face.

 

"I know," Tony mutters back.

 

"You don’t need to hover like this...he is a big boy Stark."

 

Tony winces and nods. His paper coffee cup, long drained and crumpled from the constant movement of the engineer's hands, tears at the lip.

 

He knows.

 

He and Clint, whatever it is that they are -certainly not boyfriends...lovers or whatever you would call it, don't need to do this sort of...silent vigil thing. So Nat is right, Clint does not need him.

 

"It wasn't your fault though," she says softly after a beat. Tony grunts at the admission.

 

"Hey," she barks and knocks his foot with her own in a sharp kick, "I mean it, Clint was out of position and he knew the risks, he'll be fine. It's only a concussion."

 

Tony looks up and meets her gaze cautiously; Natasha glares with out heat, as though the effort would use more energy than she is capable of, and blows out a sharp sigh.

 

"I know you aren't going to listen to this but I need to say it anyway, this wasn't your fault so quit kicking yourself Stark, that's my job." She smiles weakly and Tony throws out a surprised laugh, it sounds slightly hysterical in the silence of the hospital room.

 

“Call us if anything changes, okay?”

 

He nods silently and raises his hand in a slight wave as Natasha slips away into the hallway, and is left alone once more. Tony runs his hands through his hair as he comes back to himself and looks up at the unnaturally still archer, the thick plastic and fabric neck brace that cradles his neck restricts even the most minor of movements.

 

A slight twitch catches Tony’s eye and suddenly Clint is blinking blearily, his eyes are unfocused and searching.

 

He scrambles to his feet and moves to the edge of the bed near Clint's face, "Hey sleeping beauty,” his voice catches slightly on the endearment, “how are you feeling?" The archer’s eyes pass over Tony's face swiftly,  his brow creases slightly; the look is...unfamiliar and Tony’s chest immediately constricts with uncertainty.

 

"Better now that you're here gorgeous," Clint says with a lopsided grin, the confusion in his eyes seeps away as a flirtatious leer takes it’s place, “are you here to play doctor with me?”

Tony blanches as Clint continues unflinchingly, “Although, you’re definitely too pretty to be a doctor, are we together? Are we married?”

 

Tony’s heart stops.

 

Clint...Clint doesn’t remember...he’s lost him entirely now.

 

The bottom of his stomach has dropped through the floor as he tries to remember how to breathe through the panic that threatens to surge through him.

 

“We...no we’re not married, what...what do you remember?” Tony asks, his throat is dry as the words claw their determined way out of his throat.

 

“Together then?”

 

He looks away from the blue eyes that are beginning to narrow as they dart from Tony to the heart rate monitor and IV drip; Clint leans closer and reaches for the engineer’s hand. Tony slides it over the sheets and grasps the warm palm in his own, careful not to jostle the tape holding the needle in place.

 

“Yes, we’re together, but how much do you remember? I need to know before I call the actual doctor in here-”

 

“I bagged a hottie like you?” He looks incredulous for a moment before a wide grin spreads over his face, “I’m a lucky sonovabitch that’s for sure-”

 

“Clint,” Tony snaps, the anxious waver in his voice undercuts the frustrated tone, and lets go of the other man’s hand, “this is serious, you need to tell me what’s going on!”

 

Clint is silent for a moment, staring down at the spot where their hands had been clasped a moment prior. The buzzing fluorescent lights give his skin a waxy pallor that puts Tony on edge.

 

“So...so that’s me then? Clint?”

 

Tony grimaces at his blunder and nods silently.

 

“I…,” Clint swallows the rest of his sentence and licks his lips, his hands are gripping the thin hospital sheets tight enough to pull and stretch out the cotton. Footsteps just outside the door and muffled voices float past their room; Tony sinks his own fingernails into the palm of his right hand to keep himself focused and seated near Clint’s bedside. The doctors can wait for just a moment longer….

 

“I don’t know who I am or-or why I’m here but...I know you,” Clint lets out a sharp burst of air and shakes his head as Tony opens his mouth to respond, “I know you but I don’t...does that make sense?”

 

Tony’s mind whirls at this, “Explain,” he grits out in a tight voice.

 

Clint grimaces slightly and nods, he shifts to sit further up in the hospital bed before Tony can stop him and winces as his head and neck twitch in the brace.

 

“I don’t remember you, your name, or why you’re here but I get this feeling like...you’re here because I need you to be-”

 

“I’m calling the doctor.”

 

“What? Wait!”

 

But Tony is already on his feet and through the heavy hospital room door, his breaths are coming in short bursts, in through his nose and out through his mouth, as he fights to slow the roar of his tumbling thoughts.

 

Clint has no memory of who he is or his life as an Avenger, but has somehow retained trace knowledge of Tony? Of their relationship? He shakes himself sharply, as though the movement will dislodge the ridiculous notion. He and Clint? It didn’t make sense, aside from the occasional dinner and roll in the hay, they were barely together...so why on earth…

 

No, he thinks angrily as he turns down the hallway that leads to the nurses desk; Clint is on painkillers and still dazed from the fall. If Natasha or Steve had been in the room with the archer as he had woken up Clint would have had the same reaction. It was nothing, no reason to dwell.

 

He stops a few paces short of the desk and slumps bodily against the wall; Tony grasps the bridge of his nose with one hand while the other lands on the Stark Phone in his pocket. The continuous buzzing of the lights that worms its way through his ear drums, steadily growing louder and more intrusive. He breathes in through his nose once more as his fingers find Natasha’s icon in his contacts.

 

“We have a problem.”

 

 


End file.
